Is the digital tv conversion going to affect cable tv picture format?

Question

At my house I have one widescreen HD TV, one analog tv with a digital converter installed and many tv's hooked up to cable (Verizon FiOs). My question is will the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC etc.) be all in widescreen since they will no longer be broadcasting on their 4:3 channel. I love widescreen TV and would love if this happened. On the tv with the digital converter you can watch everything in widescreen, and press zoom if the show is not in widescreen.

Just curious!

Answer 1

The digital conversion only affects people who use an antenna.  Cable, satellite, FiOS, etc. are unaffected.

Furthermore, the switchover ONLY affects the broadcast equipment and the tuner.  The non-HD channels themselves will still be in 4:3 SD - albeit on a different channel than what they're using now.  For instance, I think NBC in my area will move from channel 4 to channel 32 or something like that.  Yeah, like that's not going to cause more ridiculous confusion.

Your HDTV should already have the new digital tuner built-in, and should also be receiving your local HD channels regardless of what package you have with Verizon.

Answer 2

They will provide a SDTV channel usually .2 of the main. HDTV being .1 of main channel. Other SDTV programing will start to appear in the other 7 channels.

Edit: Just remember not all TVs will be HD. smaller units will be SDTV but still digital. The SDTV resolution is a requirement by the FCC. How that relates to the .1-.9 channels is not and will vary. While analog channels are still out there they do not need to broadcast the SDTV stations. Only after the conversion date will they need to worry.